So, out to lunch with my friends John and Evelyn we discussed churches and finding the right fit. One of the things that came up was a nice pictorial symbol involving the cross itself which I had not heard before. The cross in a literal, visual way is two bars crossing each other. One points upwards and the other crosses it horizontally. John described this as two keys to one’s faith experience. The bar pointing upward represents a focus on God and his honor and worship. The bar crossing horizontally represents social justice. Put differently, this is the great commandments: Love God and Love your neighbor. Seems like a solid way to think about one’s faith.
Hi Tracy
Yes, I’ve always understood the cross as representing those two aspects of one’s faith. Saw your post on St. Tim’s. Wish you had been with us yesterday. Full house! No baptism! Great energy.
BTW: I see that there was a post from a Fr. Greg. That was NOT our Pastor Greg, just so you know. Hope you come back and see us again. Lovely to meet you.
Yes, Father Greg’s a regular commenter here. We met sometime ago. I do also remember that Lutherans generally don’t call their leadership ‘Father’. I’ve been thinking of making a list of the usual terminology for the denominations but just keep finding other interesting things to post about instead!
Hello Tracey – You wrote: “So, out to lunch with my friends John and Evelyn we discussed churches and finding the right fit.”
Pardon my “pastoral pickiness,” however, this is what is wrong with Christianity today, which goes counter-flow to the life, message, and teaching of the Early Church. We’ve developed a “super-market,” “shoe-store” approach to Christianity, much in debt to the Protestant Reformation and it later generations. The Holy Spirit bequeathed to us a “one size fits all” ecclesial heritage, but we’ve chosen a “have it your way” man made product!
I don’t see it that way. One still does have to pick a church somehow. Would you have everyone pick their parents’ church? Or the one closest to their house? Unless you are hoping we can reunite all churches. That does not seem very likely at this point. Many people couch their search for a church in terminology that more aligns with “looking for truth”. I could say this myself, but I don’t. What appears the utter factual truth to one person is not truth at all according to another person. I don’t see anyone flocking in droves to a single religion or church. This leads me to believe I’m not going to find a satisfactory answer if I look for a church with ‘the truth’. I have been struggling with this since even before I finally decided to take on the project. I expect the best I can do is find a church that will work for me. That is why I frame it as finding ‘a fit’. Just like a shoe, I want a church I’m actually comfortable in. I’ve been to churches that depressed me every week, and I’m not interested in staying at a church like that.